Can you give me the Cliff's Notes version of the Syria fiasco?

I stopped watching the news ages ago. Too depressing, and too hard to wade through the bull.

So, trying to stay away from biased news. I don’t have TV service or internet access other than my mobile phone, so most of my information comes from facebook.

So, I have sippets that make no sense, and now all of a sudden my conservative acquaintances are talking about how they respect Obama now.

I am very confused.

Help?